Aboard the Horizon

On the bridge of the starship Horizon, Captain Kheren was up again and moving with long strides to the science station

"Track those pods!"

"We can't, Sir," Irksos exclaimed in frustration although she still attempted to get a scan lock on the two vehicles. "The negative energy field even interfere with mere optical scans. There is no way from up here to ascertain their situation. But with no power whatsoever, not even from their own physiology..."

"Moore was smart enough to fire his impulse engine before it was snuffed out by the field," the Andorian reminded her with a clipped tone. "Even just a one second burst would provide a displacement of at least twenty-five thousand kilometers. Since the planet receives light and heat from the star to be class M, that field can not go all the way down to the surface. What could be the thickness of this field?"

For a moment, the dark-skinned woman blinked, obvioulsy thinking and calculating.

"With no actual data, we can only speculate, Captain. Following the established mass and volume of the planet from her interplanetary effect within the star system, and assuming a similar material composition as that of most class M planets, we can roughly estimate her to be forty thousand kilometers in circumference for a diameter of thirty-thousand kilometers. Again assuming a gaseous atmosphere similar to Earth standard, the Karman Line defining it's atmospheric border would be about a hundred kilometers from the surface. From this hypothetical point, the effects of the field on our probes would give us a covering shell of about thirty thousand kilometers of thickness."

"And with the residual momentum following his impulse engine's shutdown and the gravitation pull of the planet... he might have made it..." 

"That is mostly conjecture at this point, Sir," warned the astrophysicist gloomily.

"Good enough for me."

Kheren tapped his combadge.

"Commander Oseno; I am confirming the rescue operation on Eden IV. Prepare the Polaris as planned for the current specifics of our situation. Commander Redding will join you aboard with his rescue party and lead the search and retrieval of our lost people once ground operation becomes warranted."

And so saying, he nodded to his first officer.

"Captain, might I suggest attempting to contact the Phoenix? Their sensor suite is designed for this sort of situation more than we are." The Romulan engineer suggested.

"Bigger ears will only listen better to the silence," Irksos retorted. "Their sensor suite is indeed better, especially with their nanite enhanced systems... but this field negates completely all forms of energy virtually instantly. They would not have any more success than we had so far."

"Contacting them and keeping one another appraised of our mutual situation however is a wise move," Kheren said. "Counselor, get us the Phoenix."

***

Jureth was following the security detachment that was escorting the colonists to the brig out of the shuttle bay when the Captain's call came in. Major McGregor was in tow behind him and he had planned on returning to the bridge to debrief the captain on their shuttle adventure.

"Aye Captain," Oseno replied before turning to McGregor "Well Mac, no rest for the weary eh?" 

"or the wicked Sir," he replied with a small smile

"Get your whole team aboard the Polaris, even if Commander Redding doesn't use you I want you there as backup, we have no idea what's down there." 

"Aye, we'll be there Sir."

The two parted ways at a corridor intersection and Oseno tapped his combage again

"Oseno to Strategic Operations," 

"Adira here Commander," replied the El-Aurian diplomat and Jureth noted that may have been the first time she'd used his proper rank since they left starbase.

"Adira, get everyone to the Polaris, we have people on the planet and the Captain has tasked us with rescuing them."

"Understood, would you like me to join you as well?"

"Everyone includes you Commander, if the Draxx are on the planet as well we may need to negotiate with them, I can think of no one better." 

"Aye Sir, Adira out." 

Jureth continued to the Polaris hangar, and mentally began preparing himself for what was sure to be yet another interesting mission.

Redding walked along beside him as they went, seemingly deep in thought.

"Getting down to the planet is certinly doable Oseno, if Mr. Moore and the Draxx are any kind of example. But have we come up with a plan for getting back up again?" He screwed up his face into a half frown.

"The best I can come up with is hoping the Draxx know a way, and I'd hate to place all my credits on that hand."

"There was some talk of modifying the Polaris shields to compensate for the field, but I don't know if Lieutenant Solius had come up with anything Sir," Oseno replied "If he has a plan, now would be a good time to put it in play."

"Lieutenant Irksos sent plans to the Polaris engineering department for various types of energy devices," Adira Yiral then informed them. " There are plans and material to build a makeshift solar collector, a telluric accumulator, an eolian turbine and a tidal power generator. Any one of them is bound to work once we find ourselves down there... and allow us to power back at least enough of our essential systems in order  to reach escape velocity again and return."

"Alright then, any plan is better than no plan, but someone bring a deck of cards just in case, we could be down there for awhile." Redding said with a smile.

"I have to make a quick stop to update my personal log, I'll meet you aboard the ship." And with a nod he headed off.

When Oseno reached the docking deck of the Polaris, chief helmsman Hunter welcomed him with a curt nod.

"All is ready for launch, Sir. I have computed from the recorded entry trajectory of both the Draxx ship and the workpods our best angle of approach. Following Lieutenant Moore's idea, a maximum burst of our impulse engines should bring us through the negative energy field. And since we have four times the impulse power of the Sphynx class loader, and assuming Lieutenant Irksos' estimate of the field's range is correct, we should even clear the field witn a sufficient fraction of our power left for a well-controlled landing." 

"Good work Mister Hunter," Jureth replied "Let's get aboard."

The pair along with Commander Yiral boarded the escort with Oseno offering a salute to the two Marines guarding the docking hatch, after they'd verified all of their identities of course. As they entered the bridge Lt. T'lana rose from the command chair.

"Sir, all departments are reporting ready for launch, though our engineer is apprehensive about subjecting the Polaris to another round of atmospheric flight."

"He's not the only one," Shawn Hunter said from the helm console.

"Don't worry Mister Hunter," Jureth replied with a smile "You should be getting good at this by now." He looked back to T'Lana "Thank you Lieutenant, as soon as Commander Redding is aboard we will proceed. I'll be in my ready room." 

"Aye Sir,"

Oseno stepped off the bridge and into the small office where he sat down at the desk and tried to figure out how they would deal with not only the Draxx, but Sufra as well. He was almost certain the woman would resist being rescued.

Only a few minutes more passed before Redding joined him on the bridge of the Polaris.

"All set Oseno, lets go get our people." Oseno noticed that Redding had equip himself with an older style Phaser 2 Pistol, although it was obviously modified.

"Aye Sir..." Jureth replied "Mister Hunter, if you would?"

"Aye Sir, clearing docking umbilicals, bay doors opening, engaging maneuvering thrusters."

The Polaris, under Lt. Hunter's delicate touch glided out of her docking bay and maneuvered clear of the Horizon as her warp nacelles deployed.

"Engaging impulse drive," Hunter reported "trajectory to the surface has been plotted, full impulse standing by Sir."

"Punch it Lieutenant," Oseno ordered

"Aye Sir, full impulse, propulsion and navigation responding normally."

The Polaris flew away from her mother ship and toward the planet that the Draxx revered enough to sacrifice themselves to protect, and Jureth couldn't help but wonder exactly why the canine creatures protected it so. Was it religious? Did the Draxx know of some danger that the Federation people did not? The Bajoran supposed they would soon find out, but their first goal was to retrieve Mister Moore along with Sufra and whomever she still had with her if anyone. As far as Jureth was concerned they could leave Sufra, the woman had caused too much trouble as it was.

"Time to energy field?" Oseno asked

"Just under a minute," Hunter replied

"Alright, strap yourselves in," Jureth ordered as he sat down in the command chair "This is going to be a bumpy ride."

"Approaching negative energy field," Hunter reported

"Engage auxiliary engine power!" Jureth ordered

The Polaris hit the planetary field at the maximum speed her impulse engines could sustain and  then the ship's consoles began flickering wildly along with the bridge lights. The little escort shook as her inertial dampeners and structural integrity field struggled to compensate for the loss in power and keep the ship's artificial gravity operational. The ship's crew remained in their chairs as both safety restraints and their own personal inertial dampeners kept them anchored , and then as quickly as the chaos started it was over. The Polaris was moving significantly slower than when she had entered the field and red emergency lighting dimly illuminated most of her spaces.

"Report," Jureth demanded

"Main power offline," Shawn Hunter reported "Impulse output limited to one quarter, helm responding normally."

"Alright Lieutenant, take us down."

"Aye Sir, beginning landing sequence."

The ship entered the upper atmosphere of the planet and began to shake and shudder again as Shawn Hunter used both maneuvering thrusters and the little power left in the impulse engines to keep her steady.

"Easy...easy.." Hunter muttered to himself. Shuttles were one thing, but taking a certified starship through a planet's atmosphere was no easy task even for a superb helmsman such as himself.

He compensated again for the buffeting effect of the planet's gravity keeping the Polaris on her planned landing trajectory as she punched through the upper atmosphere and into the cloud cover making Hunter's job much easier as he deployed her landing struts and pointed her at the designated target zone.

"We are through the upper atmosphere Sir,"

"Any sign of the pods?"

"Sensors are not fuctional Sir," the Orion Ji'lan reported

"Right..silly question," Oseno replied "Put us down based on Lieutenat Irksos data Mister Hunter."

"Already on it Sir."

The Polaris glided toward her landing spot and Hunter cut the impulse drive and engaged her maneuvering thrusters setting the ship down on the planet's surface before sitting back and wiping drops of sweat from his forehead.

"We're down Sir,"

Oseno nodded "Good work Lieutenant, I never  doubted you....Commander Redding, we're ready when you are."

"Thank you Commander, I'll need three teams, five man squads, Alpha, Charily and Delta. Alpha squad will accompany me to the downed Draxx ship, with any luck we'll find Sufra and Moore either there or in the area."

"Charily squad will patrol the perimeter for any signs of the downed pods and Delta we hold position out side the ship until primary systems are back on line, it's possible were not the only people stranded on this planet, a new ship might look tempting to hungry shipwrecked sailors." He turned to leave but hesitated and turned back to Oseno.

"Any recommendations commander?" He didn't really want or need any, but thought it would be a good 'show' of cooperation if he asked. Need to keep up with the times he though to himself.

"Sir you should probably take the MACO team with you," Oseno replied after a moment "They are best suited to deal with the Draxx." Then he gestured toward the large, solid Capellan at the tactical station "I will take Mister Kalar, Lieutenant Variel, and Lieutenant T'lana with me and search for the any other signs of the pods. Mister Hunter can head up defense of the ship. Everyone aboard can fire a weapon so that should require the least amount of specialized personnel. You may also want to take Commander Yiral with you, she is our diplomatic specialist as well as being El-Aurian, and could be instrumental if you have to negotiate with the Draxx." 

Redding was annoyed, but mostly at himself. Oseno was absolutely right. The MACO's were the ideal team for this mission, and they hadn't even occurred to him.
Although he would have rather done without the diplomat.

He smiled at Oseno "Excellent suggestions Commander, hopefully I'll be able to finish the entire mission with them this time."

He headed to the lift. "I'll take Commander Yiral under your recommendation as well, but I also spent 20 years in the diplomatic core, and I'm no stranger to first contact situations." of course most of his time was spent amongst the Klingons and fighting the Romulans, but 20 years was still 20 years.

"Yiral, your with me." and waved at her to follow as he entered the lift.

The El-Aurian nodded and followed after the first officer, she was pleased to finally be included in some of the mission, though her people were known as extraordinary lore keepers and listeners Adira was beginning to think her experience had been forgotten about and she was young enough (in El-Aurian terms) to want to be included in things like away missions.

Back on the bridge Oseno looked around at his people.

"Mister Kalar, T'lana, and Lieutenant Variel, let's get outfitted. Check out rifles, sidearms, and combat knives please; we have no idea what's out there. Mister Hunter, you are in command while Commander Redding and I are gone. Arm the crew, if you are attacked contact me immediately and if necessary take the ship off the ground."

"Captain, if I may" T'Lana said

"Yes?"

"It is no logical for both you and Commander Redding to be gone from the ship, it is also against Starfleet Regulations. Section 12-" Oseno held up a hand cutting her off

"I know the regulation T'lana, but I'm still going."

T'lana only nodded, she had learned that if Oseno didn't concede to her logic the first time there was little point in trying a second time. 

"Aye Sir," was her only reply

"Good, that's settled, now let's go. You have the bridge Mister Hunter." 

Jureth, followed by the others entered the turbolift and headed for the armory to check out their equipment.